12 thoughts on “KPO Members – Tell us about yourself!”

Ok, I’ll get this started. I’m Dave Hearn, and I have been into amateur astronomy for about 35 years now. Yeah, I’m old. 🙂

I am an astrophotographer, using primarily Canon DSLR gear, and process my images in Nebulosity, StarTools, Aperture, and of course PhotoShop. I dabble in video a little too. 😉 Time lapses are a lot of fun and I have an Alpine Labs Radian for doing pans.

I’m also a telescope maker – the KPO Reflector is the 13th telescope I have built. I’ve built only reflectors because they are just so darned easy to make. I suppose I should try my hand at something more challenging someday.

You can contact me here on the site, or at kpo@procyonsystems.com. And of course all these wonderful social media sites you hear about from me day in and day out. Clear Skies!

Hello, my name is Patrick Collins and currently own a 5 inch F/12 Maksutov Cassegrain. I have owned larger scopes in the past and even built my first reflector back in 1969. Today I enjoy the balance of portability and performance in an age where being free of light pollution has gotten worst over the decades where I live. If I could I would be happy to send pictures of myself and telescope. One of my brothers recently bought a smaller Go To telescope and at times he may ask me for help, since I for so long have star hopped the old fashion way for a large part of my life. The bottom line is I hunger to reply to anyone who shares the same passion as I do about the universe we live in. May we have all the clear skies we can.

Hey Dave, I’m Matt Sztanko from the UK, been looking through your site and it looks great! Im also a bit of a diy Astro gear guy! I’ve built a 10 inch dob from scratch, the only part of the scope I had to buy were the mirrors, even the spider and focuser is my home grown effort. I then went on to build a motorised, equatorial mount to take this scope and my astronomy experience to the next level. It’s on board computer brain allows auto guiding and now I’ve started to get some decent results in deep sky imaging. Take a look at my website (http://www.astronomyblogger.com) to see more on my rig, any comment from you and your readers are very welcome 😃

Greetings, I’m Dan Dzejak and I have been into amateur astronomy for about 30 years now. I was introduced to it by my Uncle many, many years ago and have loved it ever since.

I am using a 10″ home built dobsonian mount scope right now. I have used mostly reflectors, and dobsonians in particular, for most of my amateur astronomy throughout the years. I only managed some afocal astrophotography right now, mostly of the Moon. I hope to get some better gear in a bit. Also have started working on some Star time lapses as well which I hope to improve.

You can catch some of my photos and videos, as well as some of my cat photos(it is the Internet after all) on my Instagram(@ddzejak) or other major social sites.

My name is Steve Cox and I have into Astronomy for about 15 years and Astrophotography for nearly 10 years. I absolutely love the hobby. Most of my interest is in Deep Sky objects such as Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters etc.

I have several mounts and telescopes in my armament. Mostly I use an Astro-Tech 8″ F/4 imaging Newtonian and a also an Orion 120 EON ED/APO refractor. I have a Orion Sirius and Orion Atlas Goto Mounts and several cameras including a QHY8 CCD imaging camera. I like to visit dark sites in the Everglades any where to get away from light polluted skies. I have several awarding winning images in my collection. You can see some of my work at http://sfaaa-cms.hein-site.net/gallery3/Members_Gallery/astrosteve.

Thought I did this but maybe not. I have been looking up since Sputnik passed over. I have had & still have many scopes & binoculars. Currently my largest is a 15″ Obsession, my smallest is a 114 mm Meade. It is the only one on an EQ mount. I am always looking for dark sky sites nearby and I belong to IDA (International Dark sky Assoc.) I am Member of CFAS (Central FL Astro Society) but it is to far to drive to Sanford for their activities.

The 15″ is parked at a dark sky site up North where we spend most of the summer. The Orion xt12g is pretty much parked at our home as it is to heavy to easily haul around. The Orion xt10i is my travel scope for public & private outreach at dark sky sites. For some reason everyone wants to use new moon weekends for public nights so I am pretty much booked up. I would prefer pubic nights to be 1st qtr or last qtr moon weekends, but who am I to tell them differently.

My name is Galen Gilmore and I have only been into amature astronomy for about 7ish months now. Oh and I’m only 13 years old 🙂 I have two telescopes, but I only use one of them. It is a 4.5″ Orion dobsonian. I have found about 30 or so Messier objects with my most recent being M35 in Gemini. I do super simple astrophotography, of planets and the moon, but also by stacking multiple short exposure images of DSO’s.

I live in St. Louis, MO in a fairly light polluted area, but it is just on the edge of being able to see the Milky Way.

Hi Galen! Or should I say “Hawkeye” as I have commented back at you several times on YouTube. I’m so pleased that you’ve checked in to the KPO Blog! Please also check out the new Star Hopping site at StarHopping.org. Thanks for all your nice comments on the YouTube Channel – I really appreciate it.